"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain"
I like gloomy days like this one. I think they make us slow down a bit. Without the constant energy we get from sunny days, gloomy days like today provide us with an opportunity to catch our breath. To admire things in a different light.
I love the sound of rain, on the roof (especially at the cottage), on the street, on the lake, and on the car roof. I love the feel of rain, on my skin and in my hair. This feeling helps me to let go a bit, to have a little fun. To not care so much about how I look but rather to live in that moment. I love the smell of rain. I love the smell of the pre-rain atmosphere, and I love the post-rain scent too. What is that smell? Just the rain? Or is it the smell of the rain in combination with what it has landed on? The asphalt, grass, trees, flowers, rooftops, human skin. Anyway, I love it, and believe it makes me feel different, somehow. I can't quite explain that because I'm not sure what I mean, myself. But it's a good different, that much I know.
Thunderstorms take on a whole new level in my lust for rain. In thunderstorms, I find some sort of romanticism. Which is kind of funny, because as a child, thunderstorms were the scariest thing I could imagine.... especially at night time. It's funny what kinds of creations you can invent in your head as a kid. Whenever I heard thunder growing up, I somehow was very successful in convincing myself that it was King Kong plowing his way though the city. And each time I ran crying into my parents' room, they assured me that "Christine, it's not King Kong. That's great grandma playing bowling up in Heaven". And even though I know otherwise today, I still sort of believe that my grandparents are bowling up there (I come from a great line of avid bowlers you know. Grandpa Pastrak owned a bowling alley, which is were my parents met....).
But then you get the people who see only the negative in rain. How it has ruined their good hair day. How it has ruined some plans they had. I'd be lying if I wasn't disappointed here and there because of the very same things. Still, even if those things happen to me, if my hair gets flattened and soaked, or my plans get rained out, I don't sit there and resent rain for all time. Even when these things happen to me, I find it difficult to escape all the things I love about rain. Plans can be remade, and hair can be washed and re-done. Each rain, to me, is different from the last. After all, no one rain drop falls twice.
And if you haven't done either of run, dance, or kiss in the rain, you have missed out on some very sweet experiences in life which, through some sort of magic, become enhanced when skies cry.
I like to think embracing rain and rainy days helps us regain a little bit of our lost childhoods. When we were kids, and we approached a humongous puddle as we walked down the street, would we ever think twice about jumping right smack in the middle? I wouldn't have! As adults, though, we think twice, or maybe three times, about doing that. Oh I'll get my outfit wet. These shoes cost too much to do that. People will look at me funny.
People will look at me funny? Is that all you've got? Do you really care of someone sees that you're having fun? It's just water, and water will dry. I don't know... maybe it's because I work with children of varying ages and abilities, but through my work I have been able to arrive at a point where I care less and less what people think of me. I've learned to view and appreciate things from such a different perspective, that I now understand that most people aren't fully living their lives. They're following the status quo, doing what is expected of them, and while maybe achieving success in doing so, I have noticed that a lot of people are not necessarily enjoying the ride. Maybe finding it increasingly difficult to find fulfillment. I'm trying to do things a bit differently.
Starting with jumping in puddles more often.
... The sun can come out another day.
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Now playing: Priscilla Ahn - Lullaby
via FoxyTunes
